BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
A RELIGIOUS INTELLECTUAL
By
Al Cronkrite
Benjamin Franklin, one of our most influential founders, is
often thought of as a researcher and inventor.
Much of his long life was consumed in a patient effort to bring peace and
order to the colonies in spite of British oppression.
There are copious books and articles about Franklin. Many emphasize his Deism. In reading through his autobiography I was
struck by his consistent faith and commitment to God.
First, a little about his early life and later his
religion:
He was one of seventeen children sired by Josiah Franklin, a
tradesman who emigrated from England in 1682. Josiah was a studious worker and
managed to earn enough money in the candle business to raise his large
family. He was a religious man and had a
small library of theological books. He was also musically gifted; he played the
violin, could carry a tune, and had a good singing voice. Known for being wise and level headed he was
often sought after for advice and direction.
From the time of his earliest memories Benjamin liked books,
he taught himself to read, and spent any money he earned buying more
books. While still very young he read
and was impressed by John Bunyan’s “Pilgrims Progress”. Later in life he could not remember when he
could not read. His love of books
continued into his adult life and he formed several groups of book lovers who
met regularly to discuss their reading adventures. He was interested in poetry and counted
several aspiring poets as his friends.
Benjamin’s brother, James, had a printing business in
Boston. He was 12 years old when Josiah
Franklin sent him to work for his brother; an Indenture was signed binding him
to the job until he reached the age of 21, it provided no salary until the
final year.
During the early 1720s James began publishing a newspaper,
the “New England Currant”. It was the
second newspaper to be published in America.
The paper was a forum for the opinions of many of James’s friends. When Benjamin read these articles he thought
he could do as well but being yet a boy was reluctant to approach his
brother. Instead he disguised his
handwriting, wrote an article, and put it under the door of the printing house. It was considered acceptable and as a result Benjamin
wrote several more, watching and listening as they were published and
discussed.
A piece written by one of James’s friends published in the
New England Current upset the Assembly.
James was summoned, censured, jailed for a month, and forbidden to
continue publishing. He and his friends
convened and decided the best course would be to publish the paper under
Benjamin Franklin’s name. This brought
up the question of the indenture which was voided and replaced by a new
contract naming Benjamin as the new proprietor.
The new arrangement went on for a time but Benjamin became
more and more disgusted with playing second fiddle to his brother who treated
him like a servant and occasionally even beat him.
John Collins, one of Benjamin’s book reading buddies,
arranged a clandestine passage to New York allowing Benjamin to escape without
a trace. He arrived in New York with
limited funds, knowing no one. However,
he had a trade and was able to find a printer where he applied for work. The printer did not have an opening but
directed Benjamin to Philadelphia where he said his son had lost an employee
and might hire him.
The trip to Philadelphia was a disaster involving ships that
ran aground, a fifty mile walk, and several delays. When Benjamin finally got to Philadelphia,
the printer’s father had already arrived on horseback. His son had hired a replacement. They took him to another print shop owned by
Mr. Samuel Keimer where he found employment.
He was 17 years old.
Benjamin Franklin was special and his father wanted him to
be educated as a clergyman. However
funds were limited and it was impossible to pay for his schooling. Sending him to work in his brother’s print
shop was his father’s way of promoting his love of reading.
In Philadelphia, a letter being carried by his
brother-in-law, Robert Holmes, a ship Captain, was shown to the Governor, Sir
William Keith, who was so impressed with the letter written by a man so young
that he visited Benjamin at his job, took him out for lunch, promised to help
him set up his own printing business and wrote a letter of recommendation to
his father urging him to help his son financially.
Later, while in New York on the way back to
Pennsylvania, the Governor of New York, William Burnet heard from the Captain
of the ship that one of his passengers was shipping a large quantity of books.
He invited Benjamin to his home, showed him his library, and they had an
interesting discussion about books and authors.
When Benjamin returned to Boston and showed his father the letter
from Sir William, his father said that Governor Keith “must be of small
discretion to think of setting a boy up in business who wanted yet three years
of being at man’s estate.” In spite of
the urging by both Benjamin and Captain Holmes his father refused to help and
sent Governor Keith a letter thanking him for his offer but believed Benjamin
was too young to manage such an important business.
Not to be denied Governor Sir William Keith, disgusted with
the current crop of printers in Philadelphia promised to set Benjamin up
himself. Plans were made for Benjamin to
travel to England to buy the proper equipment.
Letters of Credit were to be furnished.
Sir William entertained Benjamin several times at his home and the
coming voyage to England was discussed as a forgone conclusion. However, setting an exact date took longer
than expected but finally the date was set and Benjamin was ready to leave for
England.
James Ralph, a close friend from his reading club, though
married, insisted on going with Benjamin to England; both departed. The Letters of Credit were supposed to be in
the ships mail bags and when the ship was underway the Captain gave Benjamin
permission to examine the mail. There
were no Letters of Credit.
During the voyage which ran into bad weather and was not
pleasant, Benjamin became acquainted with a Mr. Denham, a Quaker merchant. When he related his plight to Mr. Denham he
found that Governor Keith was famous for failing to honor his promises and that
he actually had no credit to give.
Denham advised Benjamin to find employment and he quickly
found a job with a reputable printer named Palmer. Ralph, however, was not so fortunate. He found some of his relatives but they were
all poor. He brought no money and now
let Benjamin know that he had no intention of returning to the Colonies. Since Ralph could not find work he was
dependent on Benjamin and managed to keep him broke.
Ralph was an aspiring poet but without the poetic gift. Benjamin discouraged him but he continued to
give him samples for evaluation. He
finally found employment in another town.
He had a girlfriend and while he was out of town Benjamin helped her and
they became close. He writes, “I grew
fond of her company, and, being at that time under no religious restraint, and
presuming on my importance to her, I attempted familiarities (another erratum)
which she repulsed with a proper restraint, and acquainted him with my
behavior. This made a breach between us and when he returned again to London,
he let me know that I had cancell’d all the obligations he had been under to
me.” He meant, of course, that he would
no longer attempt to pay the sizeable debt he owed to Benjamin. Benjamin was relieved to be free from the
burden as he was now was able to save some of his own money.
Following his extended sojourn in England Franklin returned
to the States. During his absence
Deborah Read, the young woman whose hand in marriage was refused by her mother
got involved with a rascal who married her and then quickly absconded with her
dowry leaving her shaken and alone.
Franklin continued to want her as his wife and since she was not legally
free to marry they established a common-law marriage. Also, Franklin had sired an illegitimate son
and they took him into their home and raised him. They had two children of their own, Francis
and Sarah. Francis died of smallpox at
the age of four while Sarah survived and became a caretaker for her father during
his dotage. The autobiography I have
does not mention his common law marriage or that his son, William, was
illegitimate.
Franklin soon had his own printing business and developed a
partnership arrangement where he would set up deserving men in the printing
business and receive a portion of the profits in return. He writes that this provided him with an
income and allowed him to become active in local politics.
His reading habit took him to the Public Library and an
extensive study of world history.
Thoughts about his historical studies created a wish to bring peace to
the world. He decided that wars were a
result of “parties” and the variety of motives these parties brought to the
public square. He maintained that even
when a particular party rose to prominence the individuals that made it up
tended to adopt their own views and promote them to the detriment of the
party. He concluded that all this
created confusion. He observed that very
few men who rise in power have the best interests of the nation as their prime
concern and “fewer still, in public affairs, act with a view to the good of
mankind.”
In response to the world’s problems he conceived the idea of
forming a “United Party of Virtue” which would gather the “virtuous and good
men of all nations into a regular body, to be governe’d by suitable good and
wise rules, which good and wise men may probably be more unanimous in their
obedience to than common people are to common laws.” He intended a creed that would include:
“That there
is one God, who made all things.
“That he
governs the world by his providence.
“That he
ought to be worshipped by adoration, prayer, and thanksgiving.
“But that
the most acceptable service of God is doing good to man.
“That the
soul is immortal.
“And that
God will certainly reward virtue and punish vice, either here or hereafter.
He recalled
this project in his autobiography and noted that he was extremely busy at the
time this idea was birthed and unfortunately it got shelved.
Franklin
lived a long and productive life. He
brought together several different groups that liked to read and discuss
authors. His intent was always to bring
benefits to society. His inventions were
never commercially exploited. He was one
of the founders of the University of Pennsylvania. He was Postmaster first for the State of
Pennsylvania and later co-master with William Hunter for all of the colonies.
His religion
is evident all through his autobiography.
Concerning the Colonies he wrote “Providence seems by every means intent
on making us a great people. May our
virtues public and private grow with us, and be durable, that liberty, civil
and religious, may be secured to our posterity, and to all from ever part of
the Old World that take refuge among us.”
Even after
he gained some fame he continued to sign his name as “Benjamin Franklin,
Printer”. As his father had intended,
the printing business was an excellent foundation for his work. In 1732 he began publishing an “Almanack”
using the pseudonym, Richard Saunders.
It became know as “Poor Richard’s Almanac” and became very popular. At its zenith it had ten thousand subscribers
and provided him with a generous income.
Likewise,
his “Book of Virtues” became well known and was used by many as a guideline for
personal improvement. The book listed
thirteen virtuous qualities: Temperance, Silence, Order, Resolution, Frugality,
Industry, Sincerity, Justice, Moderation, Cleanliness, Tranquility, Chastity,
and Humility. The book provided and
astute expansion
of each quality.
Franklin writes about the thirteenth virtue
which was added to the original twelve.
“My list of virtues contain’d at first but twelve; but a Quaker friend
of mine having kindly informed me that I was generally thought proud; that my
pride show’d itself frequently in conversation; that I was not content with
being in the right when discussing any point, but was overbearing, and rather
insolent, of which he convinced me by mentioning several instances; I
determined endeavoring to cure myself, if I could, of this vice or folly among
the rest, and I added “Humility” to my list giving an extensive meaning to the
word. He goes on to admit that he was
never entirely successful but that he made a number of changes in his verbal
contentions all designed to reign in his ego.
At the
beginning of his autobiography he wrote, “And now I speak of thanking God, I
desire with all humility to acknowledge that I owe the mentioned happiness of
my past life to His kind providence, which led me to the means I used and gave
them success. My belief of this induces
me to hope, though I must not presume, that the same goodness will be exercised
toward me, in continuing that happiness, or enable me to bear a fatal reverse,
which I may experience as others have done,
the complexion of my future fortune being known to Him only in whose power it
is to bless to us even our afflictions.”
There was a
distinct flavoring of the Reformation in Franklin’s reference to Predestination
and his preoccupation with good works which was stronger than that of most
Wesleyan evangelists. His father’s religion affected him more than he would
probably have admitted.
Ben Franklin
was an intellectual who during his long lifetime read and digested hundreds of
books. Though he eschewed organized
religion disdaining the shallow and boring sermons of many preachers his
association with the famous evangelist George Whitefield
was amicable. He endorsed Whitefield’s
preaching but not his theology.
Whitefield’s attempts to convert Benjamin failed.
Franklin was
not the cold Deist he is often portrayed to be.
His religion was active and vibrant but neither public nor contentious.
He was intellectually religious. He was
not a chosen Christian. I suspect his
resistance to Christianity might have been a result of sexual sin. In “Chastity”, his twelfth virtue, his
counsel was: “Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dullness,
weakness, or the injury of your own or another’s peace or reputation.” Not a Christian definition of sexual
restraint. Confronted with the Gospel he declined but his refusal to become a
Christian did not preclude his serious pursuit of Christian ethics. He
endeavored to help his fellow man by doing good works and pronouncing ethical
standards. He seemed to believe that
salvation was a result of good works.
I am often
astounded when I think about the variety of conversions that make up the
Christian Body. Some of us were selected
and apprehended from a dissolute existence, others went forward at Evangelical
Churches, some came to Christ slowly, some are intellectual believers who have
never experienced the hand of the Savior, and some grew up in Christian
families where they knew Grace from an early age. Franklin’s faith that god was in control and
was guiding his steps was a sweet counter to some of today’s Christians who
seek to control God making Him their servant.
With all of
his theological wisdom and intellectual prowess R. J. Rushdoony spoke
of his private relationship to the Savior where he would seek His help and
guidance by silently asking in everyday matters. Those that miss that intimate relationship
miss the essence of the Christian life.
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